Archive for August, 2015

I’m a geek and love hanging out with other geeks. There are many different flavours of geek: gym geeks, food geeks, beer geeks, math geeks, science geeks, greyhound geeks…you get the idea! There’s a quote attributed to Simon Pegg that sums up geekdom perfectly for me:

“Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection. It means never having to play it cool about how much you like something. It’s basically a license to proudly emote on a somewhat childish level rather than behave like a supposed adult. Being a geek is extremely liberating.” Simon Pegg

Pure, unbridled enthusiasm is extremely infectious. Since I work at a University, I am extremely fortunate in that I often find myself on the receiving end of a combination of outrageous optimism and advanced-geek enthusiasm – a powerful combination that results in people changing the world.

Long ago, I discovered that you could learn a lot about the world simply by sharing a coffee or beer with a geek or two and finding out what they think is cool. Keep a note of any google-able phrases they come up with and follow up later. Much more fun, and probably more efficient, than sitting through dozens of conference talks.

Here are a few computer-based things I learned from such conversations this week: